Intensive Care

2/18/14 Intensive Care

So as you can see in the last picture, when I got to the ICU Aubrey was wearing an oxygen mask.  It was too big for her face, and even with the mask on her oxygen levels weren't completely stable.  As I talked to Clint I realized it was much more serious than he had let on while I was in Tuscaloosa.  The doctors came in and were telling me that it was possible they would have to intubate her.  Basically there was no air movement in her left lung and she wasn't coughing or anything either.  They mentioned some fluid that had gathered outside of her lung that they may need to drain with chest tubes.  From my surgeries I knew exactly how painful those chest tubes are, so I was terrified.

They decided to use high-flow oxygen instead of the mask.  The mask and a regular oxygen nasal cannula required her to breathe in the oxygen.  However, the high-flow basically pushed the oxygen into her nose and forced it into her lung.  That seemed to open her lungs up more and she was able to keep her oxygen levels at about 94.  We started at 50% pure oxygen in the high-flow and were hoping to wean it down slowly.

Because the pneumonia was so packed in her lung, they put this little vest on her every 4 hours that would inflate and deflate, making it shake her torso and break up some of the junk in her lungs.  Everyone else thought the whole contraption looked crazy, but having had pneumonia several times myself I remember how good it felt to have that junk broken up.  She enjoyed the vest and fell asleep just about every time she wore it.

Those first 2 days were extremely scary.  Aubrey didn't talk unless she absolutely had to.  She didn't move, except to let someone pick her up and put her on the potty chair right next to her bed.  Most of the time she just looked like this....

The doctors in the ICU decided to try to treat the fluid around Aubrey's lung with a drug called Lasix that basically flushed extra fluid through your body.  They gave her several doses, which only seemed to make her have to use the restroom more often.  One time she had to go so suddenly and so badly that she just wet the bed.  She was so upset about it, but we reassured her that it was no big deal.

In the ICU they were able to SLOWLY wean her off the oxygen.  They went down to 45% percent and waited about 8 hours to be sure she could hold her levels above 90.   Then we tried 40%.  She was able to stay steady there too.

We were completely overwhelmed by the amount of support we received in the hospital.  By Sunday evening the gifts for Aubrey started rolling in.  She had deliveries from mine and Clint's coworkers, cheerleaders, River City, church and everyone else.

Here she is with Cheer Bunny.  The sweet girls from her cheer team went to Build a Bear and made this for her.  They even all rubbed the heart and wished that Aubrey would get well.  PRECIOUS!  She LOVES Cheer Bunny!

I thought this zebra was super cool.  Some sweet friends sent this to her and everyone who came in her room the rest of the week commented on how unique the zebra is....

By Monday night Aubrey was down to 35% oxygen on the high-flow and they told us that she should be able to leave ICU on Tuesday.  I don't think I've ever been that excited - EVER!!!!  They were still concerned about the fluid around her lung and promised to talk to us about that more.